Big party but we weren't invited

 We were planning to take a short cruise to Stonington this weekend but the remnants of Tropical Depression "Bill" promised to dump a bunch of rain on us so we decided to stay put. That turned out to be a good decision and while Saturday was mostly warm and sunny, the rain came Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

That's fine with us. We were on our boat and there was a dock full of friends. What could be bad about that?

We had been notified that many of the facilities at our marina would be closed on Saturday night because of a "private event." That turned out to be the 50th birthday of the guy who owns the marina. This guy isn't what you'd envision when you think of a typical New England marina owner. Instead, he's a wealthy business owner from out-of-state and for his birthday, he invited a couple hundred of his best buddies (or clients) to come and party with him.

It soon became apparent this this was going to be a big party. Trucks arrived and set up lights and party decorations. The big tent in the marina was blacked out with curtains so us locals couldn't really see in. A barge anchored in the harbor to stage fireworks. As the guests began to arrive, the parking lot filled to overflow with BMWs, Mercedes and even a few Audis. The guest of honor brought is best ride, a Rolls Royce.

We wondered what he drives when he just wants to pick up a loaf of bread at the nearest 7-11? Guess he has a small Mercedes for errands like that.

Anyway, the party went on until about 1 a.m. By then, we were asleep.

On Sunday morning, as the large crew disassembled the party site, Frances observed that if she had just had her "little black dress" with her, she could have crashed the party and danced up a storm. Don't laugh. She would have done it.

We didn't shoot any video of the party since we weren't invited and didn't want to be intrusive. But on Sunday morning, we shot just a few minutes of Norwich Harbor. We think it one of the nicest in Connecticut and while the air was so humid, you could cut it with a knife, it was still fun for us to find our two favorite harbor locations (River Avenue and the top of Cedar Street) and show what it looks like on the first day of Summer after a big rain storm.